Method of forming grave-vaults.



No. 664,710. VPatented Dec; 25, I900.

D. E. AUNKST & W. H. LAWRENCE. METHOD OF FORMING GRAVE VAULTS.

(Application filed June 14, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL E. AUNKsT AND WILLIS H. LAWRENcE, or MILTON, PENNsYLvANiA.

METHOD OF FORMING GRAVE-VAULTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,710, dated December 2 1 Application filed J rule 14, 1900.

To all wit/1712, it may concern:

Be it known that we,DANIEL E. AUNKST and \VILLIS H. LAWRENCE, citizens of the United States, residing at Milton, in the county of Northumberland and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Method of Forming Grave-Vaults, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of forming a plastic grave-vault; and the objects in view are to hermetically seal and secure a coflin or casket and body and to have the sealing means, if not violently molested, remain intact for a long period of time; to permit a body to be buried in localities which are wet and miry, with protection from the surrounding moisture, and in large burial places to utilize the vault as a sanitary precaution as well as a preventive of the contamination of water, as the contents are completely sealed up and secure.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional perspective view of a grave-trench, showing the steps of the method partially carried out therein. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the vault completed in accordance with the method.

Similar numerals of reference are employed toindicate corresponding parts in both views.

The numeral 1 designates a grave-trench, which is constructed in the ordinary manner, and on the bottom thereof is first placed a layer 2 of plastic substance, such as hydraulic cement or other material that is absolutely Waterproof when hardened, the thickness of this layer being regulated at will. The cofiin or casket 3 is then rested on the said layer 2 in the position shown, considerable space being left between the sides and ends of the same and the corresponding walls of the trench. A wooden box 4 is then provided, of a dimension to snugly fit over the casket or coffin, and is swelled by submerging it in water or otherwise sufficiently moistening the same, and while in a swelled moist condition it is inverted over the coflin or casket, with its open side against the top of the layer 2. Immediately after this step the space between the sides. and ends of the inverted box and the adjacent walls of the trench is filled with a vertical surrounding intermediate wall 5 of plastic material similar in nature to the layer 2, and over the top of the box, as the latter serial No. 20,300. (No model.)

is positioned and fully to the walls of the trench, a horizontal layer 6 of similar plastic material is placed and becomes continuous with the wall 5 and'the latter with that portion of the layer 2 which projects beyond the sides and ends of the inverted box to the trench-walls.

The box 4 not only forms a con venient core for shaping the plastic material and sustain:

ing the latter clear of the coffin or casket, but by swelling the same and while in moist condition disposing it in the position set forth and immediately applying the plastic material thereto will permit the said plastic material to dry and remain homogeneous or without cracking, ordinarily due to a resistance set up by a drycore, by reason of the fact that the box will be drying at the same time and its shrinkage will be in consonance with that of the plastic material under, around, and over the same, and a hermetically-sealed underground vault will be produced impervious to the action of Water or moisture. A coffin or casket can thus be preserved, as well as the body therein, and the sanitary advantages are manifest as well as the desirable protection of a corpse deposited under the ground surface irrespective of the character of the soil or the adjacency of a body of water.

In preparing the box or case it is lined or the joints calked, so that it will hold water, and when it is sheathed down over the coffin in the grave-trench and jointed to the plastic material on the bottom a perfectly air-tight inclosure results. This tightness of the box or case also permits the operator to apply the plastic material in any desirable consistency in constructing the vault without damage to the coffin or casket and body within the said box or case, and the filling-in step around the sides and ends and over the top of the box or case in one complete volume leaves no doubt in the operators mind as to the completeness of the plastic covering. The cheapness, simplicity, easy application, and great durability of the vault produced in the manner set forth will be a material advance in the operation of iuterments.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is The herein-described method of producing a composite underground vault of Wood and waterproof plastic consisting in forming in a permit the plastic material to contract in sct- V grave-trench a plastic floor, tightening and ting Without liability of cracking. thoroughly saturating a Wooden box or other In testimony that we claim the-foregoing as hollow form of less dimension than the floor onrown we have hereto affixed our signatures :5 5 with Water and while wet placing it on said in the presence of tWo witnesses.

floor, and applying plastic material snbstantially as described in moist working condition over the sides, ends and top of the form so that the side and end portions will contact Witnesses: 10 with and become secured to the fioor,whereby J. F. HOUSEL,

the shrinkage of the box in drying out will H. E. ANGSTADT. 

